Today, we are in what some people refer to as SCOTUS-watch: that is, waiting to hear what, if anything, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) plans to do with five marriage equality cases they currently have in front of them. A patchwork of rulings, stays, appeals and cases underway means that hundreds of thousands of families still face indignities and legal and financial hardship.

Those cases–from Utah (Herbert v. Kitchen), Oklahoma (Smith v. Bishop), Virginia (Rainey v. Bostic, Indiana (Bogan v. Baskin), and Wisconsin (Walker v. Wolf)–come from three of the nation’s thirteen federal court circuits, and could decide the fate of marriage equality for all 50 states. Despite the difference between the cases, each of them presents the same simple question: whether the Constitution guarantees same-sex-marriage rights everywhere across the country.

If the Court should decide to grant certiorari (cert) or consideration, meaning they will hear one or more of the cases, the likelihood is that we would have a decision by early next summer…or even earlier. It is well past time for this inequality to end.